Originally Posted on CoSIDA.com
Chris Wenzler (John Carroll University) – Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award
by Kevin Smith, The College of Wooster Director of Athletic Communications
 
For eight of the last 10 years, John Carroll University's longtime assistant athletic director for communications and sports information director Christopher Wenzler embarks on a trip in May.
 
No, this trip isn't with one of the Blue Streaks' 23 highly-successful NCAA Division III programs. Rather, Wenzler accompanies groups of John Carroll students who travel to impoverished regions of developing countries where they impact the lives of others through the Jesuit University's campus ministry immersion program.
 
It's primarily because of Wenzler's dedication to John Carroll's immersion program and the Blue Streaks' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's (SAAC) Streaks to the Max events that led to him being selected as the recipient of this year's College Sports Information Directors of America's (CoSIDA) Bob Kenworthy Community Service Award. Wenzler will be honored during the organization's Special Awards luncheon at its annual convention at National Harbor, Maryland on Saturday, June 30.
 
Wenzler's travels have landed him in Jamaica (five times), Ecuador (twice), and Guatemala. Although he'll be taking this year off though due to the graduations of daughter, Madeline, from Duquesne University, and son, Oliver, from Charles F. Brush High School, the wheel is already in motion for a ninth immersion trip come 2019.
 
"Christopher Kerr, who used to be in charge of the immersion program, came to me when he first started at John Carroll," said Wenzler. "I turned him down three times due to having a young son at home. When Oliver was in first grade, I finally consented and went to Jamaica in 2007. It was absolutely transformative."
 
While on the trip, Wenzler is fully present and engaged in all of the immersion activities. Typical days commence with morning prayer and conclude with nightly reflections, with a host of service and cultural experiences in between. Popular activities include school, neighborhood, and hospital visits, which enable John Carroll's contingent to interact in close proximity with local residents and provide both groups opportunities to learn about the different cultures and customs.
 
"I've told people this – it's a great way to reset your perspectives on what's important," said Wenzler on his biggest immersion experience takeaway. "It's sometimes very evident to me that happiness from a daily life perspective doesn't have to be through material things or through the bigger house or better car. It comes down to what a community is about and people looking out for each other. It's amazing we have conversations with these neighbors that I don't have in my own country."

At the schools, tasks range from assisting in the English classroom, helping with homework, partaking in the daily activity, and aiding in the final charla (talk), which focuses on the value of the week. After that, the group helps distribute clean water, bananas, bread, and multi-vitamins to the children.

During neighborhood visits, the locals are oftentimes just as eager to learn about the John Carroll students' backgrounds as they are to share their life experiences and the native customs.  
 
"The locals are interested about what our students are studying, and our students are curious about their day-to-day lives and history of the neighborhood," summed up Wenzler. "General questions about the structure of the local government and healthcare are popular topics, too."
 
At hospitals the immersion group meets with the patients, some of which are longtime residents of the facility. Take Wenzler's Ecuador immersion for example. There, the group visited Damien House, a hospital for those affected by Hansen's Disease (formerly known as leprosy), and met with the residents.
 
"It takes $1,000 (U.S. currency) a day to run the facility," said Wenzler. "Hansen's Disease is more prevalent in the area due to the standing water in extremely rural areas in Ecuador."
 
Other aspects of the immersion include living simply with many of the meals consisting of only bread, rice, beans, fresh fruit, and juice – all foods served in a typical meal in the region.
 
"The parent organization of the Ecuador immersion, Rostro de Cristo, has developed a program with a very intentional purpose of living in solidarity with our neighbors," said Wenzler. "During this experience, our group learns what it is like to live a lifestyle similar to the people in our neighborhood, most of whom live on less than two dollars a day."
 
Additionally, Wenzler is completely offline during each trip from a technology standpoint, except for when needing to communicate emergency information with the campus ministry staff back home.
  Each year's trip isn't limited to 10 days in May, as extensive planning meetings with students and staff take place well in advance to ensure each immersion trip is successful.
 
"In the post-immersion survey, student participants are asked if the presence of the staff leader added value to the experience. In the most recent survey, 100 percent of students who traveled with Chris responded 'strongly agree,' the highest response available," added Scarano. "It is clear Chris makes an intentional effort to build meaningful relationships with students and he helps those around him become better versions of themselves."
 
Wenzler's service commitment goes above and beyond John Carroll's tagline of "educating for leadership and service in the Jesuit tradition." As the athletic department's SAAC advisor, Wenzler's dedication to the creation and execution of JCU Streaks to the Max is just as noteworthy.
 
These events help raise financial and advocacy aid for the Max Cure Foundation, an organization committed to assisting families who have a child battling cancer. The first event featured a 24-hour swim relay, where nearly every team and Wenzler's sports information student staff took part. Last year, each sport hosted its own mini-event. In fact, the third-annual event is taking place this week, details of which can be found here. To date, JCU's Streaks to the Max events have raised over $30,000.
 
"Our men's soccer team wore pink in support of pediatric cancer, and I received an interesting email from Jonathan Agin, a men's soccer alumnus from the class of 1994," said Wenzler. "His response was all well and good, but pediatric cancer was his cause and felt it was so much more underfunded and underrepresented. Through back-and-forth conversations, it became apparent to have this as an advocacy cause to help a largely voiceless group of kids with cancer. We came up with the idea to use our student-athletes' amazing gift of athletic ability to draw attention and raise funds for a worthy cause."
 
Other big community service commitments by Wenzler include five years running a summer swim team when his children were younger. In fact, Wenzler still serves as a consultant for the new crop of leaders of the team.
 
The establishment of the CoSIDA Volunteer 15 program has only further validated Wenzler's commitment to service throughout his career. He was the national leader among members who logged hours for the 2014-15 academic year with 224, and he's one of two nationally with over 200 hours of community service in each of the three years of the member initiative.
 
"Chris regularly builds genuine relationships with the local people he meets, engages in community service efforts when appropriate, and asks larger structural questions as to why some people live in such dire conditions in our world," said John Scarano, John Carroll's director of campus ministry. "He encourages and challenges our students to do all of these things as well. In this role, Chris has served as a significant mentor to hundreds of students."